e-portfolio Survival Guide
Northern School of Radiology
Introduction
This guide should be read in conjunction with the RCR Curriculum published
May 2010, embedded here. Before proceeding further you should read and
become familiar with the pages on assessment (p160ff). This document will
assume knowledge of these pages, and the Scheme will adhere closely to the
RCR’s ARCP guidelines, which should be regarded as a minimum standard.
The purpose of this Survival Guide is to make explicit at the outset what is
expected in terms of evidence of competency, and what is either not
acceptable or necessary.
RCR 2010 Curriculum
The School takes a very dim view of portfolios that need to be returned for
revision. Ignorance of the guidelines and of this published advice is not a
defence.
ARCP
In addition to RCR guidance, you may find the following checklist, used for
June 2010, helpful in framing the documentation you will need to collect and
store electronically. An updated checklist will be published in early 2014 by
the chair of the ARCP panel, Dr Geoff Hide.
ARCP checklist
2012-13 2.doc
You will observe that two assessment tools are not available as part of the eportfolio, namely Modality Specific Supervisor Reports and Clinical Supervisor
Reports. These should be completed by your trainers, preferably electronically
and in your presence, or at least discussed with you after the event, emailed to
you and stored in your online document library. You may then link them to the
curriculum to provide evidence of competency. These have been previously
circulated, but are available here:
Clinical Supervisor's
Modality specific
ReportV2.doc
supervisor's report V2.doc
Do use these creatively by working with your trainers to write such things as,
“Dr X is core competent in lung cancer staging CT” and so forth. These
become very powerful summative statements of ability, as they are
underscored by a consultant signature, for which the consultant is accountable
to the GMC. From the ARCP assessors’ viewpoint, the more free text that is
entered the more informative the forms become, and the more accurate a
picture may be built. All assessments are subjective; the more detail that is
offered by more assessors, the closer the ARCP panel can get to objective
subjectivity, and as fair as is reasonably possible a view of the individual’s
progress and future learning needs.
Reflection
Reflection is a core skill of medical practice, and it cannot be overemphasised.
Regular reflection on work done and progress made helps frame future
learning needs. These learning needs should be framed within the PDP, and
assessment tools/supervisor reports used to monitor progress against these
goals. Further reflection on progress to date completes and continues the
cycle. The ARCP panel looks very favourably upon such reflection.
The following are encouraged for use to help you reflect:
Self Appraisal of
Learning.doc
Self Assessment.doc
Reflective
Practice.doc
These are not prescriptive. Other on-line tools are available and may be used.
But it is important that evidence of reflection is included, as it provides
assurance that there is engagement with the educational process.
Levels of Evidence Quality Determining Competency
Broadly, in descending order of quality, these are:
1. RCR examinations.
2. Formal quality controlled assessments undertaken locally by the
Scheme. A number of these are already in use and several are under
development.
3. Formal reports (Clinical Supervisor or Modality Specific) written by senior
trainers suitably qualified to write them.
4. Workplace based assessments (WpBAs – IPX and Rad-DOPS).
5. Self-questioning reflection on on-line certificated learning (certificate
should be provided).
6. Self-questioning reflection on lectures or courses.
7. Certificate of on line learning.
8. Attendance at a lecture or a course.
9. Reflection on work you have done, which you think you have done to a
good standard.
10.
A written statement claiming to be competent at something.
(1) – (4) are high quality; (5) – (6) medium; (7) – (8) low; (9) – (10) poor.
For each important domain of the curriculum (such as virtually the entirety of
the Radiology Specific curriculum (the exception is Academic Radiology, not a
strength of the Newcastle Scheme and where high quality evidence of
competency will therefore be difficult to gather)), between three and five high
quality items will be what the ARCP panel will be looking for, acquired over the
designated period. For some of the less important areas of the curriculum
(such as managing long term conditions) fewer items of lower quality evidence
will be acceptable: for the specific example listed, one of (7) or (8) would be
sufficient.
Rather than list all the domains and the evidence expected, a degree of
common sense should be applied. Indeed, it could be argued that the ability to
provide an adequate level of evidence (neither too much nor too little) is itself
a marker of good global judgement when it comes to managing personal risk
and what is considered appropriate.
The panel will not be looking for evidence of competency of every bullet point
of the core curriculum, though a higher degree of coverage will be expected at
Level 1, and higher still at Level 2. What is expected is a broad coverage of the
bullet points – the panel will assume competency of the rest, if most of it is
covered competently, or at least give the trainee the credit to know where their
future development needs lie as they progress to more senior levels and into
consultant employment.
Level1/2: here, it is expected that the registrar will document in their PDP
exactly what they are intending to acquire in terms of knowledge and skills
over the coming year. Based upon that, the ARCP panel will look at those
domains. So, someone training to Level 2 in Interventional Neuroradiology
would only be expected to populate the Level1/2 INR curriculum, and ignore
the rest. Those who are aiming for “General Cross Section” would be expected
to produce a suit of evidence covering (but not limited to) thoracic, GI,
urology, oncology, MSK (eg MRI knees, but not US). Breast (for instance)
would be expected to be entirely blank. A good guide is to think of where you
wish to be as a Consultant, and think about what evidence you are going to
provide to a prospective employer to prove you are competent to do the job
for which you are applying.
Tip: regard the e-portfolio much as you would your bank account, and revisit
it at least every two weeks. That way you will populate it over time and with a
minimum of effort. Trying to gather sufficient evidence, collating it and
mapping it to the curriculum in the final pre-ARCP week rarely achieves the
desired result. Amongst other things, such behaviour illustrates a casual
attitude to the educational process, which the ARCP panel take a very dim view
of.
Revalidation
This is now established. Appropriate paperwork for signing will be circulated
as required. This generally takes the form of a self-declaration which is crosschecked with any other information the School or Health Education North East
(HENE) holds. Revalidation is processed as part of the ARCP process, generally
in July of each year. At the time of writing, failure to engage in the educational
process is currently viewed by the GMC as a revalidation issue. For the vast
majority of registrars, though, revalidation should be a formality.
Enhanced Form
R.doc
Useful Contacts
David Roxborough (david.roxborough@ne.hee.nhs.uk) has full administration
rights, and can create or modify e-portfolio accounts. He, in general, is your
first point of call for e-portfolio queries. Other queries may be directed toward
your Educational Supervisor or TPD (james.graham@nuth.nhs.uk;
ian.curzon@stees.nhs.uk).
Useful Resources.
e-learning for health (eLfH) has a series of superb structured modules on
interpreting imaging. A number of Northern School registrars have been
instrumental in authoring many of the modules. It may be accessed here:
www.e-lfh.org.uk
RITI. Built by the RCR, this is a case-based archive rather than a structured
learning module. It may be accessed via e-lfh.
Radiopaedia and Aunt Minnie.com are popular sites. There are others.
Dr RC Cooper
Head of School
July 2013